ArloGo - Activating new SIM Card with ATT is very complicated and device addition fails

[Lazldazl]

After purchasing ArloGo at best buy, i quickly foudn out that the SIM card povided with the product cannot be activate by ATT.  Turns out the SIM card needs to have an associated cell phone number to be added to my account.  I called netgear support and they did not know anything.  Was told they would call me back in 2 hours once level 2 support arrived.  I'm still waiting 3 hours later. Very disappointed in support.  I went to ATT store, purcsed and activated a pre-paid SIM ($48 with tax), installed it in camera and I go throught the "add device" process and cannot add the device.  I tried from multpile location and tried with my phone and computer and it fails every time.  Unfortunately my excitment for the camera is slowly extinguishing. Any helpis greatly appreciated.

[JamesC]

Lazldazl,

Your Arlo Go will need to be activated on an Arlo Mobile subscription plan using the preactivated SIM card included with your Arlo Go kit.

For more information, take a look here: How do I set up my Arlo Go camera?

JamesC

[Lazldazl]

I did finally activate it but it became unreachable and can't register it again after removing it from account and resetting camera.

[JamesC]

Lazldazl,

I will reach out to you in a private message to gather more information on this issue.

JamesC

[Niknak1]

To save you some time, this exact issue occured with me (arlo go not reactivating after sim card issue) and tech support took a couple of hours to finally decide that it was defective, or that they could not resolve the issue. I had to return and exchange it at best buy. 

i suspect an issue with the sim card not properly allowing you to re-add time, which causes the camera to lose functionality since it relies entirely on the sim card to register. I'm seeing that netgear is now trying to reach out to help solve this issue, but its going to cause a lot of people headaches if it isn't resolved via the sim card/app

[Lazldazl]

Does anyone know if the ones sold by verizon are any better?

[Niknak1]

Not sure if Verizon is better (ir if its even an option?), but I think they only sell these with their own NETGEAR ARLO (AT&T) SIMCARD. The manual and packaging are confusing as they mention Verizon, AT&T and their own ARLO network (powered by AT&T)...

So far the second camera has been doing OK and hasn't repeated the same issue. I noticed that setting this up with the mobile app may have possibly caused the issue as well since you need to "subscribe" to a service. I chose the FREE TRIAL woth the first ERROR camera (via the mobile app) and suspect it ran out of time, removing itself fromt he network and killing the camera since it could no longer be re-synced.

With this second camera I chose the PAY SERVICE ($4.99 a month) but did this via the Desktop "arlo.netgear.com" website. So far it has been working but I will update the message board if I run into the same issue.

Netgear doesnt seem to really know what the issue is (at least they havn't communicated it yet) so i would try repeating what I did with the second camera just to be safe. Also not sure if you can buy your own sim card to work with the camera and that would be a question for a netgear tech support agent...Really wish they had more info on all of this as it feels like we are beta testing a $400 camera...

[Niknak1]

And to be clear about what I mean with "subscribing to a service"

When you first set up you will be prompted to select a service type...and if you do this with the mobile App its like the selection isnt even saved, as you won't see it applied to your actual account (arlo.netgear.com-login)

If you subscribe via the website (arlo.netgear.com) you will see your subscription actuaslly take effect and show as a subscription plan

Its really a little bug but its definately a bug 

[lwthomas1]

There are 3 versions of this camera. They are:

VML4030-100NAS - AT&T Version

VML4030-200NAS - Arlo Mobile Version

VML4030-VHQ - Version Version

The issue is if you buy the camera from either Amazon or Best Buy you are going to get the VML4030-200NAS only. I think they are the same cameras. I went through this same nonsense and once I got the VML4030-100NAS it activated with no problem. You can oreder those from places like Newegg, although the last time I checked they were out of stock. Just check and verify that it is the VML4030-100NAS version.